Grumble Jones - An ASL Blog

Our Friday night game saw the conclusion of FF-8 "Send in the Sand Rabbits". We had missed one session, so it took us both a moment to reorient ourselves to the battle in progress. I had been thinking about the game throughout the week and felt that it would go pretty well for my Russians. To say it went my way would be an understatement. Things went my way almost from the start and my opponent's dice took away any chances he had.

It's never easy for ASL'rs to reflect on the randomness of results, which is such a huge aspect of game play. It's tougher still, when we observe that randomness deny what we know would otherwise be predicted results in a given situation...at least as much as we might believe we can accurately predict such things. So I did feel badly near the end of the game as my opponent's cold dice allowed my forces to simply walk past his defenders.

Winning any game in ASL is always worth celebrating and despite the setbacks suffered by STL opponent, I was still happy with the win and my choices for much of the game. As for the scenario itself...I have to admit that Scott Holst's initial impressions of the VC were accurate. It played a bit messily. My opponent never made any attempt to move east of Row T and gain the VP associated with being beyond that row. Instead, he built his game around keeping me from exiting the board. Was that the best choice? I don't know. This game really played very much like the historical event, so I generally give kudos to a scenario designer when they achieve that. To me that is a big part of the game, as I really enjoy experiencing the actual event to the extent possible with a board game. Would I play this one again....probably not. It just never developed into an exciting game for us, which of course is as related to the Players involved as the scenario itself.

My opponent's Germans would find themselves locked in position for most of the game. They traded shots with shadows as they attempted unsuccessfully to uncover my concealed 4-5-8's in my initial ambush force.

My ambush force was hugely successful...not in eliminating German units, but in holding them in place along a long front, which enabled my exit forces to get off the map.

At the start of Turn 4, I wasn't sure what to expect. Through 3 turns, my STL opponent had been content to stay pretty much west of the Row Y Road. That appeared to be the road he was planning to defend in an attempt to stop my forces from exiting the board.

His forces had good North-South visibility and the road definitely bisected my approach to exit the board. So I could see the value in that, but on the downside, I was going to be moving through his field of vision with only 1 MP...so any shots would be really tough to make.

My opponent moved the Jadgpanzer IV into a hull down position with a shot down the entire length of the Y Road. His Tiger II then started up and rumbled towards my oncoming infantry laden trucks. I had feared that move and would now see if I would pay for my audacity.

In Advancing Fire, the MG's managed to immobilize my lead truck. Both squads made their morale checks...but a Snake Eyes created a Berserk squad and activated the German Sniper who promptly eliminated my broken AT Gun crew.

Good shooting Uwe.

The Berserk 4-4-7 charged right at the King Tiger in order to draw its MG fire and spare my other truck from disaster. The ploy worked, but my Berserkers were broken, which left 6 residual fire in the Hex...and ensured that I would not be moving any trucks through that hex.

They made a lot of noise...but ultimately broke under the point blank MG fire of the White Tiger!!!

Next up, I decided to go for broke. I sent two IS-2's right at the mighty King Tiger.

Dmitri Kasonov questioned the wisdom of my command...but understood that his comrades in the trucks were in great danger. Only he stood between them and the White Tiger of Death!!!

What would follow would be the decisive moment of the scenario as my IS-2's faced off at point-blank range with the fearsome King Tiger.

My other forces continued moving as well. I was determined to run everything to the edge of the board as quickly as possible. The Tiger II could only watch as Trucks of Soviet Infantry bypassed and headed West.

Two trucks with a total of 4 squads ran past the Tiger II and would successfully exit the West board edge.

Soviet Yaks captured the battle from the air as they headed west to strafe German airfields.

My opponent's bad luck with the dice continued and gained in frequency. His Tiger II eliminated his Main Armament while trying repair and was recalled.

Bad Dice...

Bad dice didn't just affect my opponent. Dmitri's IS-2 broke its gun while trying to hit the King Tiger. Fortunately for me though, the Tiger kept failing to penetrate the armor of the IS-2 right in front of it.

Meanwhile up in the North, the recalled Tiger II headed for the rear. The standoff in the building remained with the Germans on the 1st floor and the Russians hanging on to the second floor.

My opponent's Landsers never came up the stairs after me.

The tank duel ended with a fiery blast as my IS-2 hit the King Tiger's turret and rolled snake-eyes for the effect.

That was the moment we both realized that the game was over. There was nothing now to stop my forces from exiting the board.

My tankers had come through and taken out the dreaded White Tiger!!!

My opponent didn't give up of course and as my column of tanks and trucks went by, he attempted to fire a Panzerschreck and Panzerfausts from inside the building. Three times he fired as my vehicles rolled by...and each time, he rolled a "9" which broke the squad and failed to hit.

It's hard not to feel like my opponent suffered a bit from bad rolls at the end. The odds of rolling three 9's in a row...with auto killing Panzerfausts was hard to believe.

So, as my opponent's DM'd themselves, my Trucks and Armor exited the board and secured a Russian Victory.

A look at the Russians who successfully exited the board.

Relative positions of the forces at game end. My opponent gave the concession at the conclusion of Turn 6. Not the greatest scenario we ever played, but it had its fun moments and it's never boring when King Tigers face off against IS-2's!!!

June has come to Tulsa, Oklahoma and with it 108 F heat...which makes walking across the street feel like a stroll through a furnace. But June always focuses my mind on those dramatic days in Normandy from June 6th through August 13th, 1944. As an American, I might be expected to be drawn to studying the Battles of Carentan, St. Lo, Cherbourg, Mortain and Operation Cobra. And indeed, I have studied those engagements...but by and large my personal library reflects my interest in the efforts of the British, the Scottish, and the Canadians engaged in the many operations to seize Caen. After all, it seems that the greatest tank battles of the Normandy Campaign were waged in the space between Villers Bocage and Caen.

And smack in the middle of this collision of Allied and German armor was a non-descript hill dubbed Cote 112. The Germans would throw the might of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions into the fight against a host of British, Scottish and Canadian Regiments and Divisions. A hill in perhaps name only would be the scene of agonizing carnage on both sides. And whoever would eventually control the hill would be one step closer to winning the most important campaign on the Western Front.

My first real academic study of the campaigns around the battles for Caen came when I purchased a copy of Max Hasting's outstanding book, Overlord. I was still in college at the time and took to reading it each night in my wife's (then girl-friend) apartment each evening as she fell asleep. I would read a chapter, turn out the lights and walk back to campus to my dorm room. During those late night walks, my mind would be focused on details of the Normandy campaign as penned by Hastings.

Overlord whetted my interest. While a very good book, it was not overly detailed and didn't give me enough specific info about Buron, Carpiquet, Maltot, Villers Bocage or Hill 112. I wanted to know more and I wanted great source material for SL scenarios. In 1986, I was still playing SL in my own personal defiance of spending the money for ASL. I wouldn't embrace ASL until 1989, when my resistance was finally revealed to be futile.

So, what follows are the books in the Grumble Jones library, which I have been fortunate enough to obtain and which I believe provide the ASL player with the best combination of history and scenario source material. The books covered in this visit are not the whole of my Normandy collection, but instead those most focused on the events around Caen. We'll save the other tomes for another visit to the library.

For whatever reason, Hill 112 really grabbed my interest and I began learning as much about the battle for this bump in the Normandy landscape as I could. Back in 2003, my wife presented me with two excellent books covering the German forces engaged at Hill 112 by French publisher, Heimdal.

The first of these covers the 9th SS Hohenstaufen Panzer Division. This book is massive...I mean massive and is filled with great photographs and a great many directly from the fighting for Hill 112. On the downside for me, it's in French. So my English and German are not much help. Nonetheless, I consider this one of the truly great books in my collection.

Hemidal does a tremendous job in telling a well put together history of the German units which fought in France in the summer of 1944. At times, it has seemed odd to me that a French publisher would put together such great books about specific German units...but then again, who else has a greater right than the French to tell the story.

The second of the books my wife got me in 2003 was Hemidal's 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg. In many ways this volume seems a pale cousin to the huge Hohenstaufen volume. It's about a third the size of the former and while every bit as good with the photographs, etc. it does seem a bit smallish. It is still a great book, but of the two, Hohenstaufen is the King Tiger. These two volumes, taken together don't necessarily offer much in the way of scenario development, but the pictures and maps go a long way to helping the ASL player understand the battles around Hill 112. So I do recommend them, if you can find them at a reasonable price. At one time or another I have seen Hohenstaufen range between $150 to $500.00 It's good...but not that good.

So, while I loved the picture quality of the two Heimdal books, I still felt like a I wasn't learning about Hill 112 the way I wanted to. So off to Amazon I went and the following books were ones that I purchased for my Kindle and kept me occupied during my many business travels.

The Battle Ground Europe series of books are truly outstanding. Great pictures, maps and the detailed narrative to inform the reader of the battles being covered. These are also intended to serve as guides for any visit to the specific battles. I love them and try to snag them on Amazon whenever they are on sale.

This series of books is very extensive and covers nearly every major engagement of the Normandy Campaign. In addition to Hill 112, I also picked up Operation Epsom and Mont Pincon. And as time and money permit, I hope to pick up other volumes.

Mont Pincon is another of those engagements in the fight for Caen and beyond, that I was rather unfamiliar with, so I have very much enjoyed learning something new.

And as stated before, the picture quality of these books is first rate with equal time given to the Allies and the Germans.

I have noted that there are a great many more pictures available from the Allied perspective, but to some extent that might be expected given the Allied success in the campaign.

Much of the German photo history can again be found in the Heimdal publications.

Another of the books in my library was one that I found in the local Books A Million, which does have some great history books from time to time.

Tigers in Normandy is one of those books, which is an absolute must have. The detailed narrative of the fate of Germany's Tiger Tanks in Normandy is without rival. Simply stated, this is one of those books that gets you down to the Turret Number and tells you what happened to that Tank and oh...has the pictures to back it up. I love this book and have poured through on numerous occasions for scenario inspiration.

Now, some ASL'rs might find a book like Tigers in Normandy to almost be too much detail. I know...is that really possible...well yes, I suppose it can be and certainly, books like Tigers in Normandy are not for everyone. A similar treatment of Allied Tanks would be welcome...but unfortunately, the fascination with the Tiger Tank has ensured that their history was a bit better preserved than the hundreds of Shermans and Churchills which battled them in the hills and hedgerows of Normandy.

But there is an author, whose book I'm saving for last, who at least does great justice to the Allied side of the conflict.

The next two books are very recent acquisitions, which I'm yet to complete reading through, but nonetheless are volumes, which have the kind of detail I've been searching for to inspire ASL scenarios.

Ken Touts, The Bloody Battle for Tilly is the first of these two books. I chanced upon this at used bookstore here in Tulsa and for $6 dollars, could hardly pass it up.

My brief perusal of its pages confirms that it will provide the narrative details that I am partial to.

It's not chock full of pictures or maps. It's that kind of book...you know the ones...with a series of pictures in the middle and a drought both before and after. The Battle Ground Series really does shine when compared to the standard WW2 volume. Editors should take note, that pictures mixed with the relevant text makes for a better reading experience. Just my two cents worth.

The next volume, is Maj. How's Hill 112. Again, I am just getting into this particular book, but can already tell it will be very useful in educating me on the battle while at the same time providing the inspiration for ASL Scenario Creation.

This hardbound book is thin, but chock full of pictures, maps, firsthand accounts from both Allied and German participants, and plenty of maps. It's an all around great volume.

We are heading into the home stretch for June's visit to the Grumble Jones Library. 10 books is a bit more than I had anticipated talking about...but hey, these are some great books, and any one of them would be a great resource for the average historian or ASL player.

And finally, no accounting of the Normandy Campaign would be complete without Ian Daglish's excellent, Goodwood. This book was produced not only by an outstanding historian, but an ASL player as well. Ian's book is absolutely filled with maps, pictures and the most detailed, action narratives of any of the books we have talked about. It stands head and shoulders above the others.

There are moment's in Ian's book that really make your head spin as you are forced to understand how truly awful it was to be in a Sherman Tank advancing against German anti-tank guns, tanks and Panzerfausts. Ian does not hold back the punches and brings the reader face to face with the human cost of war. Some of the losses suffered by Allied Tankers is simply staggering. You will ask yourself..."how did they find the courage to keep attacking??"

Ian's book will give you insight into the terrible carnage of armored conflict in Normandy.

So, it's nearly closing time in the Grumble Jones Library. Thanks for visiting this month and we look forward to visiting again with you in July.

Advanced Squad Leader like most every other Wargame, RPG, or many family board games relies on dice to determine the results of actions taken during game play. In the Case of ASL, most rolls involve two six-sided die of different colors. Now the purpose of this particular blog post is not to dwell deeply into the die rolling mechanics of the world's greatest WWII tactical board game.

In truth, this blog post is to relate a nearly 5 year record keeping experiment conducted by my long-time ASL opponent from St. Louis. This experiment began in 2010 after Scott and I returned to playing ASL after a 13 year hiatus. The cause of the hiatus was my leaving St. Louis for jobs in Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Raising two children also distracted from ASL as well.

But in 2010, Scott and I began playing ASL by the Cardboard via SKYPE method. For the first time in 13 years, distance no longer kept us from playing our favorite game. Now for those who don't know him, Scott is a meticulous player and after one particularly frustrating game where the dice seemed to betray him at every turn, Scott decided to keep a log of every roll for every scenario we played. He was convinced that the dice play a significant role in the outcome of the games we were playing. Well, of course common sense tells us that naturally in any game involving dice, the dice will play a significant role (pun intended).

With that understanding, I was a bit skeptical that Scott's data mining would extract anything more meaningful than the standard bell curve we have all become accustomed to seeing.

As a Six Sigma Blackbelt, I believed that Scott's exercise would ultimately confirm what was already understood about rolling two dice. But he was undeterred, and began compiling the data with greater and greater detail throughout our gaming sessions. In fact, our game play began to suffer as he need to document each and every roll slowed our game play to a crawl. It wasn't until 2015, that I was able to convince Scott, that we had enough data for a meaningful data dive. Our game play has not returned to more normal and enjoyable speeds.

By the time, we called it quits on the experiment, Scott had collected data for 30 scenarios played between 2010 and 2015. That is a rather large data pool to be sure.

Despite having all this collected data, my buddy hesitated to send it to me. After a year of subtle reminders, he finally sent me the Excel Spreadsheets. And I must admit the data is pretty amazing. I could see how Scott's spreadsheets evolved over time and he attempted to tie die rolls to game results. It was at that moment that I realized...wow...ok maybe the data can tell us something more about randomness in ASL...maybe...so into the data I dived.

Now, trust me when I say there is a lot of data...in truth too much that can be shared successfully. When Scott began his deep dive...he went really deep. So I took the results of the data across several relevant roll categories and took a snapshot, which is posted below.

What you see are the average die roll results for 30 scenarios divided by Player 1 and Player 2. The categories from left to right are: Player Side, Average Morale Check dice roll, Average To Hit dice roll, Average # of Factors for IFT shots, Average IFT dice roll result, Average Rally dice roll, Average Special dice roll (wind change, bog, kindling, etc.), Average single die roll (MG repair, smoke, PF check, sniper, etc.) A quick look confirms the bell curve relationship for rolling 2D6.

So yes, my friend's deep dive on the surface doesn't reveal anything different from what we expected to see. And yes, I was a bit disappointed at first. I wanted Scott's data to confirm that the dice could introduce too much randomness into the game. But the numbers as an average were not telling that story.

So I decided to go deeper...to go where my Scott had gone...to see what else the data could reveal...if anything.

So I looked deeper at each of Scott's spreadsheets and discovered some observations which he noted on one of the Scenarios...ASL S24 Sherman Marches West. Here are two snips of the data he observed.

In this particular scenario, Scott had the Russian side. In the course of the scenario, he rolled the dice 137 times. Suddenly the data did indeed begin to tell a story beyond the simple bell curve math. 26 of his 137 rolls were 10 or greater. 18% of his rolls were "bad" and rolling 7 "12's" at any time in ASL is never good. Now the predicted % for rolling 10's is roughly 8%...so 9% is higher than the predicted norm. His 11's were within the normal range, but his 12's were double the predicted norm.

No my rolls for the same scenario were pretty much within or below the predicted norm with my 12's being the exception at 4%, which is higher than the predicted 3% norm.

But the rolls themselves don't really tell us a story. It's the results of the rolls at at given time in the game that really matters. Rolling a 12 for Pin Task Check is far different than rolling a 12 for a Morale Check. So I decided to look again at Scott's data and see if results could also be gleaned in any meaningful way.

And yes, Scott did indeed compile results and give us a glimpse how the dice rolls factored into the game.

I looked to his spreadsheet for ASL 22 Kurhaus Clash for the a good example. I was keenly interested in seeing the data on this scenario, because I had suffered such a resounding defeat as the Americans. I distinctly remembered missing my morale checks throughout the game and suffering huge losses in the process.

Scott's rolls for the game show that he put together a lot of high factor IFT shots against my Americans. He also retained rate of fire on his MG's 5 times consecutively and the results were a 4 and 1 MC for my desperate Americans. What is also interesting is that Scott's IFT rolls were not stellar. In fact, they were right at average with 7.7. His rolls were successful in large part due to the high IFT factor shots he was taking, which provides evidence of the basic premise in ASL that your higher factor shots will produce a favorable result based on an average dice roll.

Ok...maybe this is not quite that interesting or mind-blowing...but still I find the data to be worth looking at. After all, we have all had those moments in ASL where we seem to continually roll 10's when we have 16 factor IFT shots and then roll 3's when we have 2 factor IFT shots.

Ok, above are my rolls for the same scenario. Keeping in mind that my Americans were with a "6"morale, the MC rolls are telling. 13 or my 19 morale check rolls ended badly for me with either a broken squad or worse. 81% of my MC rolls were bad. And my Rally rolls were no better with nothing lower than an "8" rolled. So not only did I break often, I failed to Rally the boys who did break. And my IFT factors tell a story of single squads and MMG's firing back at the Germans, with no fire groups in evidence at all. And my IFT rolls resulted in two Cowers for my boys 25% of my IFT rolls resulted in a Cower...against Germans in stone buildings. So the single 1MC I got against the Germans in the entire scenario comes as no surprise. The numbers above help confirm that my Americans were dealt a crushing defeat.

So, in summary, my friend's project does indeed yield some useful information. On the one hand it confirms that ASL and the dice work very well together. While we often feel that that we are "diced" in a given situation or scenario...the data suggests that most rolls fall within the predicted norms. There will of course be those games where one player's dice are hotter than another or colder than the other. Certainly, the data for Kurhaus Clash shows that my Americans did indeed suffer from bad MC rolls...but on the other side of the equation....my opponent did an outstanding job of forcing me to make those MC's. So once again, the beauty of ASL and it's relationship to "random" dice rolls continues to show itself.

I will hold on to my friend's labor of love and keep the spreadsheets with my other scenario history files. They tell a story every bit as interesting as any AAR.

As next weekend leads to the 4th of July Holiday, the Grumble Jones blog will take a break and return after the 4th. Here's wishing you all a wonderful 4th of July!

Having lived in St. Louis for nearly 20 years, I can tell you no city does 4th of July better. If you have never watched fireworks from beneath the Arch...I highly recommend it!!!

After a long hiatus, my regular STL opponent and I were once again on point with a Cardboard via SKYPE game of ASL Scenario A37 - Dreil Team. I have always been interested in playing this scenario, so was happy to see it as the night's game.

I drew the German defense and found myself north of a deep water obstacle with two bridge crossings. The British, 7th Somerset Light Infantry win if they exit 8 or more VP off the north edge. With 14 squads of 4-5-7's against just 3 x 4-6-7's and 3 x 4-6-8's that wouldn't seem to be such a difficult task at first glance. But...my Germans also have a nice Panther Tank and have the advantage of knowing exactly where the British can cross. So overall, it's not all that easy for the British player.

My opponent's 4-5-7's would be representative of the 7th Somerset Light Infantry. A storied group of British soldiers.

On my side of the board, would be the Germans of the II SS Panzer Corps.

Now, I have noticed a lot of discussion on GS about Waffen SS Dice...Waffen SS units...etc., etc. Clearly some of that discussion was focused on arousing pro and con passions and then watching the feathers fly. The GS Forum is often akin to watching an episode of Spartacus...with lots of blood flying around the arena. So this leads me to full disclosure. Yes, I own the Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg Battle Dice...and yes I like them. I don't use the Battle School Dice, because I don't want to wear them out. So in short, I enjoy collecting them. My own personal favorite is the 25th Panzer Grenadier Die followed by the British Red Devils die.

Now as a final disclaimer..."No SS dice were used in the following scenario...nor were Black SS Counters."

Now for a bit of blogger editorial on the whole subject of ASL and playing certain units. Over the course of my WW2 studies, I have developed a very strong interest in all things German. Can't tell you why and this developed at a very young age. My mother was never very happy about her young son's obsession with Airfix German Afrika Korps, Paras and Mountain Troopers...although she did like the Ski Troopers.

This interest in Germany persisted and after learning the language I had the great opportunity to attend a semester of college in Reutlingen, West Germany. It remains one of the greatest times of my life. During that time, I encountered one German veteran of the 10th Panzer Division and had a very nice talk with that gentlemen. I also spent considerable time with a German family. The father and mother were teenagers during the Second World War. They had pictures of the mother's father on the wall. He had been a combat engineer in Russia. They never spoke of him, but were pleased that I seemed to know a bit about German military history. The father never spoke of the war,except on one occasion, when he talked about his two closest friends. They had gotten drunk one night and volunteered for the Waffen SS. Both were later killed. Herr Barth never mentioned the war to me again.

Now for me personally, while I am student of the Waffen SS and certainly have a sizable collection of unit histories, I do not play with the Black SS Counters. I like the SS runes as they do indeed add some character to the counter. I readily acknowledge there are many ASL'rs who do not prefer either. I certainly respect that opinion. But having lived in Germany and spent many years working for Siemens, I have a sense of Germany that extends beyond the crimes of the Nazis in the Second World War. Now having said that, I hold all Germans accountable for the crimes committed. I don't just single out the Waffen SS or the Allgemeine SS or the SD and say they are the holders of all the crimes...no..the entire German nation and German military are all to be held accountable. For far too long, the SS have served as the alibi of a nation. The German Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine all committed war crimes. And lastly, the Holocaust required the participation of far too many people to simply be laid at the polished black boots of the SS. The camps were built, supplied and serviced by regular Germans and other Europeans throughout Eastern and Western Europe. The true horror of the Holocaust is that far too many people participated. Everybody knew...deny as many of them did...they all knew the horrors.

So as an ASL player and one who enjoys playing the Germans, I will never sugar coat the crimes of the Nazis, but in the same vein I will not ignore the military accomplishments and professionalism of the German military in the Second World War. It may never be possible for Germany to fully atone for the horrors of Nazism...but having walked in many a small village cemetery in Germany...I can tell you that they paid the price for unleashing hell on earth.

In the hot summer of 2003, I was in Regensburg, Germany to assist with supplier negotiations. These were long days. So we often found ourselves having late dinners. Here I am at one of these dinners with my German colleagues from Siemens. The future of Germany is bright and in the hands of some really wonderful people.

OK enough blathering...on to the AAR for our Friday Game!

On the face of it, my defensive prospects were pretty good. All I really have to do is defend two bridges and with the assistance of a Panther tank...this shouldn't be that difficult a task.

I placed my forces all along the entire length of the stream. I wanted to keep my options available to funnel men to either of the bridges as needed and hopefully interdict British movements on the other side of the stream.

Overall I was happy with my setup...but sure could have used some of those bombs!!!

After our normal banter and discussion of work woes...it was game on. Wind Change DR..."12"...so our game began with the gusty winds of war!!!

My opponent was of course happy to see the first 12 out of the way!!!

Not surprisingly my opponent sent the 9-2 with 3 x 4-5-7-'s with LMG, MMG, and Piat into the two story building. These boys would become his base of fire to suppress or eliminate my boys and open the way across one or both bridges. Fortunately, I managed to pin two squads as they ran up the stairs. So only the 9-2 and MMG squad made it to the top.

My opponent sent the remainder of his troops in stacks of three squads CX'ing to the northernmost bridge.

He made good use of the available cover and stayed out of sight of my Germans.

But without warning a sniper shot rings out and the British 9-2 is hit and wounded.

The British establish their turn 1 positions...but neither bridge is seriously threatened.

The Grumble Jones staff photographer takes position to cover the British movements!

My Germans pepper the wounded British 9-2 with MG fire and some tough love from the Panther.

The snipers were fairly active in the two turns played over the evening. Fortunately, I only suffered a Pin.

Having watched my opponent move aggressively to the northernmost bridge, I decided to move the Panther to interdict. My thinking here was that a successful crossing that far north would be far more disastrous than one further south. So off my tank went.

I also decided to relocate some of the my infantry in order to get out of the line of fire of the British kill stacks and to begin a new defense line.

Situation after the end of Turn 2. The British have placed two base of fire locations at each bridge, but still haven't positioned troops to move forward. Standing and trading fire will ultimately benefit my defense. Eventually, my opponent will have to make a move across a bridge...how soon or late will decide victory or defeat.

My boys will be ready!!!

Our Friday game, saw the continuation of A-37 Dreil Team. As noted in the previous post, my opponent and I weren't too terribly excited about this scenario. In fact, we both thought regardless of how many turns we finished...that we would probably put this scenario to bed and start a new one next week. We would both be surprised by the night's events and find out once again that ASL can never be predicted...

You would think after all these years...I would know better than to think I know how a game of ASL is going to go...

The situation as picked up with the start of Turn 3. At this point, the British were threatening the Northernmost bridge. My Germans were in fair positions and had been shrugging off most of the British fire.

As in many a scenario, I was confident that my Germans would continue to hold their positions...why I have this false confidence game after game is a mystery. What happens after turn 3 in any ASL scenario is almost always different that what I #1 thought would happen and #2 was what I wanted to happen. Someday, I'll learn...

I expected my opponent to continue his drive on the Northernmost Bridge. He had committed to it and I believed that he would keep his focus there.

My opponent would do just that.

True to form, my opponent lead off Turn 3 with fire against my boys near the Southernmost Bridge. One of my regular STL opponent's primary traits is a desire to soften positions before doing anything else.

My forces would once again shrug off the fire.

Further North, the British also spent Prep Fire trying to soften me up. This time, they met with some success as one of my 4-6-7's broke.

Don't worry Mattias...we'll rally you in the next turn!

Little did I know at the time, but that first break would begin the destruction of my dam at the bridge. My Panther tank had arrived on the scene and I felt comfortable that I had taken the appropriate steps to stop a British crossing.

That was my thinking at the time.

Back in the south, my boys continued to trade desultory fire with the British.

My opponent's Defensive Fire seemed rather ineffectual...except for one small thing. He managed to force a Pin Task Check on my concealed 4-6-8 holding the stone building beside the bridge. Not a big deal right...???

One of the positives on the German side was the activity of the German Sniper. My sniper would KIA the British 8-0, who was busy rallying broken boys on the west side of town. He would then go on to Pin two squads, who were poised to cross the R7 bridge. At this point in the game, my opponent loudly proclaimed his undying love for ASL and I quote..."I hate this _______ing game!". Yes the random pain inflicted by snipers in ASL often elicits this expression of love for the game.

As for me...I was digging the efforts of my sniper. He was contributing mightily to my efforts.

At this point in the game, the momentum would begin to swing towards Britannia. The British mortar would drop its one smoke to shield his drive on the bridge. Things were going to begin moving very quickly from this point forward.

The Smoke exponent of 7 seems low...but I wasn't going to complain.

Now real trouble would befall my defenders. The British dropped their smoke and then began moving towards the bridge. Incredibly, my opponent's Advancing Fire forced me to make a simple morale check...of course nothing is simple in ASL. I rolled the dice and boxcars sealed my fate. A DM'd, ELR'd 2-4-7 would be all that remained of my critical position. UGH!!

As my positions at the Northernmost bridge began to collapse...I would go on to double down on disaster. I saw a chance to take 2 factor +1 shot at the British 9-1 Kill Stack. It would do nothing and suddenly reveal to my opponent that he could possibly nuke my last position holding the Southernmost Bridge. Genius on my part...pure suicidal genius...

Oh..look...my opponent's very next fire would eliminate my defense in the south. The bridge there was now open for business.

Now...our previously dull game was going to heat up fast! The British would go for it and try to rush the bridge. A stack of three 4-5-7's would just go balls out! I would fire...first squad breaks, second squad breaks...then SNAKE EYEs...the third squad goes BERSERK...the British don't go BERSERK...I though that was just a Scottish thing!?!

Read the rules Lad...read the rules...

OH NO was right...seriously...this isn't going to actually go down...the 4-5-7 isn't going to cross the bridge and take out my Panther....not going to happen right...???

My boys fired away as the crazy British squad rushed ahead. And good grief...nothing could stop them. But then...my Panther fires his MA and rolls SNAKES. Take that Berserkers!!! a +3 Morale Check should stop them!!! But it doesn't...they are still coming...NOOOOOO!!!!

There was no stopping them!

The Berserk British 4-5-7 survived everything I could throw at them. And I didn't roll badly. I forced two +3 Morale Checks...but my opponent finally had some hot dice and made all his morale checks.

Meanwhile in the South, the British finally stormed across the bridge. My DM'd boys could offer no resistance. (My opponent was loving the game of ASL more fully at this time.)

The boys in the second floor also ran down into the street and made for the bridge.

As our gaming for the evening neared its end...we had two Close Combats to resolve.

In the south my 9-1 went down under the crushing weight of the British assault. He didn't have a chance.

In the north, it was time to resolve the CC between my Panther and the Berserk 4-5-7 squad. My Panther would fire it's self-defense system...but it would have no effect on the Berserkers. My opponent climbed onto my Panther and rolled a "3". My Panther was gone.

Yeah...it sucked to lose my Panther...but what a game moment...it was absolutely fantastic to watch that 4-5-7 storm across that bridge...survive everything that was thrown at them...leap onto the Panther and knock it out. It was FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Our mutual adrenaline rushes over...my opponent and I agreed that we had reached the stopping point for the evening. We will pick the game up with the German Phase of Turn 5.

While the British celebrate their successful Bridge Crossings...my Germans will have to dig deep to find a way to stop them.

Kein problem...richtig?

Please remember to open link in a new window to maximize the view.

The PDF for this scenario can be downloaded from the The ASL Scenario Archive.

(simply search on Grumble Jones or Mule Skinner).

And always remember, these scenarios are presented for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of my blog.

Design note - this scenario is based on a hypothetical occurrence during the March campaigning of Merrill's Marauders. His men were in the Hukawng Valley on March 14th, 1944, but there is no record of any Japanese disruption of an airdrop.

This scenario was inspired by the following webpage:

http://www.marauder.org/history.htm

Merrill's Marauders have always fascinated me. Their deep penetrations into the Japanese positions in Burma with little to no support are nothing short of amazing. Their accomplishments, while legendary also came at a huge cost to the unit. I had not previously realized just how grueling and debilitating their campaign had been on them. My research for this scenario, revealed to me that Merrill's men were literally pushed to the brink of their endurance and beyond. The unit ceased to exist as a separate entity at the conclusion of their campaign. I encourage you to check out the web link above and to read the many great books out there about the Marauders. These guys were true heroes of the Second World War.

I have never done a scenario utilizing pack animals before, so my apologies if my SSR's are a bit lacking. The blame is all mine.

Given the obstinate nature of Mules and the loads they carried, I assigned them only 4MF. This is also why the scenario has 8-1/2 turns. I just wasn't sure how quickly the American Player could get his Mules to the supplies and back to safety. This is definitely a challenging scenario for the American Player. The location of the wing drops will more than likely determine success or failure.

Personally, I cannot imagine hiking, let alone fighting in the Burmese terrain.

I also took a bit of dramatic rules license with all the Radios and Spotting fire for the Mortars including the US 81's. Hopefully, the SSR was clear that the Leaders in the field with Radios could act as the spotter as long as they had radio contact with the Radio Leader with the Mortars.

Not sure if this a legitimate ASL activity...but what the heck...it's just a Grumble Jones scenario anyway.

It's important not to forget the courage and suffering of the Japanese in Burma. Merrill's Marauders killed a great many Japanese Infantry in the course of their campaign.

There are many great ASL scenarios about Merrill's Marauders and I hope that Mule Skinner will give the player a sense of the hardships experienced by Merrill's men in the jungles of Burma.

With the heat here in Tulsa topping 103 degrees F today...sitting in a cool library seems like just the thing to do. Of course you also need just the right book. This month's visit to the Grumble Jones library will highlight some volumes I picked up during my travels in Westeros...I mean Europe.

Three of the volumes discussed today were acquired in 1985 during my time as a college student in Reutlingen, Germany (sadly the scene of the latest terrorist attack in Germany. My thoughts are with the people of Reutlingen today. My heart will always have a place in it for Schwabenland.)

The first of the books this month is a Russian tome on the Great Patriotic War, which I have never been able to read...nor do I have any reasonable expectation that I will ever be able to read Russian Cyrillic. Thank goodness...it's primarily a photo history of the Soviet war effort from 1941-1945. This book has a bit of history for me, despite my inability to read it. It's the only book that I ever purchased from behind the Iron Curtain. While visiting Prague in October, 1985, I saw a large line of people standing outside a store. That store turned out be a bookstore. The locals informed us that it had just received its monthly shipment of books. So we decided to experience Communist life and got in line. Nearly two hours later, we entered the bookstore, which was a rather nice establishment. It had plenty of books. The monthly shipment consisted of books published outside of Czechoslovakia and the East Bloc. I headed to the "war" table which was not attracting any interest and found the tome pictured on the right.

In 1985, the exchange rate for Czech Krona was rather good. I was legally getting 10 Krona for each of my Deutsch Marks and $28 Krona for each US Dollar. So this particular book cost me about 5DM.

It's a large, coffee table style book with a crimson, hardbound cover, which is under the dust jacket (pictured). It has about 400 pages and is filled with pictures and Russian Cyrillic script. It covers the entire Eastern Front from 1941 to the finish in Berlin in 1945. The picture quality varies from page to page, but in general is pretty bad. I have seen this frequently with Russian pictures from World War II. For whatever reason they just don't transfer well. There are some great maps and some great patriotic paintings and propaganda posters.

Overall, it's not really a book that I would ever recommend, but I have always enjoyed the memory of how I obtained it. My memories of Communist Prague are pretty awesome. I really enjoyed my time in the city. I can still recall looking out of my window from the Hotel Solidarity (true name) and gazing out across the industrial part of the city with lights, smoke stacks and it reminded me so much of Blade Runner. It was truly a depressing sight. But walking in the old town was awesome. Some pics from those days in 1985 are below.

Riding these street cars was one of the more fun things to do in Prague as I recall. It was also my first encounter with a Secret Policeman, who asked me to provide him with a validated Ticket. I nervously (because I hadn't validated my ticket) reached my hand into my coat pocket and produced a validated ticket...purely by accident...it had been leftover from the day before. Thank goodness for some Scotch-Irish luck.

The famous St. Charles Bridge in Prague should be on everyone's bucket list to cross just once. Of course ASL players are also historians and many of you may remember that this bridge was the scene of Reinhard Heydrich's funeral procession. Thankfully, the years have washed away that tainted soul's presence there.

I much more preferred the company I encountered on the St. Charles bridge.

During my time in Europe in 1985, there were only a few times, when I knew I was standing in a spot where real evil stood during WW2. Standing at the Gates of Hradcany Castle was the only time in my life (thankfully) that I knew I was standing in a spot once occupied by the Nazi Leadership. I chose not to include a picture of Hitler, with Himmler and Heydrich, but you can certainly Google for those images, should you be curious enough to see them.

I cannot imagine, what life under Nazi occupation would have been like and I hope never to know. But I can tell you, that it was creepy to walk in these historical locations knowing that the world's most evil men had preceded you.

The next two books were purchased from the bookstore in downtown Reutlingen, Germany. I spent many wonderful hours perusing through the stacks in that bookstore. Of course that was 31 years ago...so who knows if it's even there today. But, at the time, it was another magical destination whenever I trekked downtown from Pestalozzi Strasse.

Dieckert/Grossmann's Der Kampf um Ostpruessen practically jumped off the shelf at me. It's cover art, depicts a column of German Panzergrenadiers marching along a snow covered road. I can only wonder what Jeff and Dave, of the 2 Half-Squads, would say about it during their box art review. Perhaps they can turn their attention to books, when ASL box covers are exhausted. But I digress.

Motorbuch Verlag is the publisher and I frequently ran across many of their titles not only in bookstores, but also in the book sections of Hortens and other German department stores. This title about the battles for East Prussia is all in German. It has a nice selection of photographs and several very good maps. One of the more interesting maps is of the Wolfschnaze or Wolf's Lair with descriptions of the various buildings on the campus. While, this is a fantastic book, I would only recommend it, if you're German is very good.

As far as utilizing this book for scenario's, it's not really specific enough for the kind of small unit actions that are depicted in ASL. It is however very useful in informing the reader as to exactly which German and Russian divisions were on the battlefield. I have referred to its maps frequently over the years.

The second book from the Reutlingen books store is Paul Carell's famous, Unternehmen Barbarossa im Bild. Paul Carell, a member of the Allegemeine SS and writer for Signal Magazine was a Nazi propagandist for Joachim von Ribbentrop's Foreign Ministry. After the war, he made a career of writing books from the German soldier's perspective, where he whitewashed the actions of the Wehrmacht in Soviet Russia. His books are still relatively available, but reader beware of the propaganda. The picture quality in this book is first rate and there are some pictures, which I have seen no where else.

I first saw this book at Valparaiso University. After receiving my acceptance letter to Valpo's International Studies Program, I had a series of meetings with Professor Schaefer, who led the program. On his book shelves was this particular volume, which he had purchased in Reutlingen. So, when I chanced upon the same book, while in Reutlingen, I made sure to grab a copy. Despite its value as a photo history, I will not recommend this book, due to the author's Nazi past. It's best to let his version of the Second World War die with him.

The last book this month and far less controversial is Charles MacDonald's A Time for Trumpets about the Battle of the Bulge. Of all the books, discussed this month, this is the best of the group and one that really does come in handy for ASL scenario creation. It's also very helpful for playing the CG's Kampfgruppe Peiper I and II. Now you may wonder...how does this book become one that was purchased in Europe? And that is a great question. The best aspect of this very good book is the place where I purchased it. In the heart of of great WW II European Battlefield, I picked up an English version of MacDonald's great book on the Bulge.

In early October of 1985, I took a train from Stuttgart to East Germany and into West Berlin. I can still remember the East German border guard who checked my Passport on the train as we crossed into East Germany. He was one scary dude and looked like a Hollywood Gestapo Agent...no joking...dude was serious.

Traveling into West Berlin at the height of the Cold War was one of those moments that I look forward to telling my grandchildren about. The memories of those days are still very sharp. One of the places that I had most looked forward to visiting was the Reichstag. Standing in front of this building was one of those rare occasions where you knew you were standing right in the middle of a World War II action.

This was the place where the Third Reich made it's last stand. For me, it was an amazing moment to walk those stairs that the Soviets stormed in 1945. In 1985, it was not being used as the capital was in Bonn at that time. And in 1985, it was right next to the Brandenberg Gate which was in the no-man's land of the Berlin Wall. Our bus toured past the Brandenberg Gate and the T-34/85's mounted on pedestals. It was a surreal experience.

It was so strange to me to walk across the grass covered field with people flying kites in exactly the same spot that a German 88mm Flak Gun once fired away at Soviet JS-II's.

As I entered the building, my mind swirled with thoughts of the combat that took place within. And then I looked around and there were people wandering all around in a building that was then a museum. And in this museum was a bookstore and there I found and purchased my copy of A Time for Trumpets. How weird to buy a book about the Battle of the Bulge in the Reichstag.

There I was in a building that 40 years earlier had been the scene of unimaginable carnage and desperation for the German defenders and equally unimaginable jubilation for the Soviet victors as they completed the epic defeat of Nazi Germany that had begun on the banks of the Volga River.

So hoist the flag my friends. Another visit to the Grumble Jones library has concluded. We'll open again in August...and perhaps look at some books on the Pacific Theater.

And lastly a few images I took while in East Berlin in 1985.

Checkpoint Charlie in 1985.

The last pieces of the "old wall" before construction of the new wall was completed...and of course came down only four years later.

East German soldiers supervising the construction of the new wall.

The death zone with the interior walls painted white to improve visibility.

The Neue Wache in East Berlin.

Changing of the Guard at the Neue Wache.

An iconic image of what I often feel was the last vestiges of the Third Reich.

Watching the East German soldiers goose stepping at the Neue Wache certainly took one back in time to a darker past.

See you again in August.

Our Friday game saw the conclusion of A-37 Dreil Team. My regular STL opponent and I had actually imagined that we would have been spending this particular Friday at the St. Louis Tournament. But work and life's other chores kept us from attending this year's tournament. Hopefully, next year!

Our previous two sessions of play of A-37 had confirmed that this small scenario packs some tactical punch. When we left things two weeks ago, the British had successfully destroyed the Panther tank and crossed the river at both bridges. Going into this night's gaming, I was greatly concerned whether or not my Germans would hold. And it would come down to the final British move on the final British turn before that question would be answered.

As we began the German phase of Turn 5, I was very worried about the approaching British at southernmost bridge. My boys over there were all broken. So I would need to get them rallied and quickly!

Help would be on the way!

I prep fired hoping to slow down the once-berserk British 4-5-7. They had made the deepest penetration into my front.

Having completed my Prep Fires, it was time to skulk back and avoid British retribution. My 4-6-7 in I6 jumped back to I7, while their 9-1 made a dash for the broken boys in K10. J8 was a death hex...but I had to risk it!

The British Defensive fire would be destructive on the east edge of town, but my 9-1 would successfully make it to the broken boys.

With just one officer left, my 9-1's value could not be overstated. I had to keep him in the fight and that would involve some risk as the game progressed.

In the very next Rally Phase...my gambit paid off as all of my boys rallied!

Turn 6...I expected my STL opponent to follow form and go for the Prep-Fire softening up prior to moving. I had my boys ready to interdict any movements.

In my first Defensive Fire roll...I broke my LMG with a nice boxcars. Not good...

BOXCARS!!!

Despite my LMG breaking...I managed to stop the 4-5-7 in G1 and when my opponent rolled a "12" for the MC...we said goodbye to half of those Berserk Panther Killing dudes.

That would be the extent of my retribution for the remainder of the game.

Having rallied my boys, I left the 2-4-8 and LMG to hold off the British in the south, while my 4-6-7 and 9-1 double-timed it to cut off the expected British run for the board edge.

As we neared the end of the game, my opponent's kill stacks began to grown in power. I couldn't stand up to them.

And wouldn't you know it...the dang Sniper would show up when I could least afford it. My freshly rallied 2-4-8 with the LMG and the mission to hold the south...took a direct Sniper hit and broke.

The Snipers were definitely effective in this scenario.

The Sniper forced me to make another unhappy choice. I sent my 2-4-7 and 4-6-7 to try and stop any off board exiting, while my 9-1 made another trip south to rally the broken 2-4-8 before the British launched through my open gap.

My 9-1 was getting a workout and earning his stripes to be sure!

And man if he didn't come through again with an immediate rally of the 2-4-8. My Opponent barely held back his disgust at yet another successful German rally. The South and West Flank was once again secured.

A little lucky tonight aren't we mate?!?

Of course luck is all a matter of perspective. My opponent finally made his move to win the game. It was balls out for the British.

Let's go Lads and give it to them...

So there I was this one time playing ASL...when I thought I might actually win a game...but...then....

I had left my 4-6-8 with LMG in a dangerous position and I paid for it...hard...

But Turn 8 came and went without a British exit. So in the German Phase of Turn 8, I made my final moves to try and stop the last British efforts to exit the board and win the game. I would have a 2-4-7 and 2 x 4-6-7's left to hang on for the victory.

At the end of Turn 8...my boys were ready. We knew where the British were going. The boys to the south didn't have the movement factors necessary to exit the board...so it would be up the British in the north to find a way to run past my defenses.

TURN 9...horns blared, whistles trilled and war cries erupted from the parched throats of the determined British infantry.

It's moments like these that make ASL such an awesome game. Both players know...that the decisive game moment has arrived. One of us will win and one of us will lose...and the dice have yet to be rolled to decide the issue. On the other end of the SKYPE call...I could hear my opponent running through his proposed movements. He had enough boys to win the game...but how many would the Germans stop???

My opponent sends his men forward. The first two British squads are broken and pinned. At this point, I can hear resignation in my opponent's voice. I reassure him, that he is still in the game. His 8-1 has 3 x 4-5-7's with him and they are easily within CX range of exiting the board. Only one German unit had yet to fire...a 4-6-7 on the 2nd floor of the office complex...waiting for the 8-1 stack to move into the open.

My opponent sighs...and sends the stack forward...it's all or nothing...win or lose...my 4-6-7 fires...I roll the dice...an "11"...oh good grief...the British charge through the fire...and through the other residuals...shrugging off every bit of it. They exit the board and it's game over...a British Victory!

In a game of nearly miraculous charges on both sides...we can only clap our hands for another fantastic ASL finish...

Permission granted...proceed!

It's a lazy, hot Sunday afternoon here in Tulsa, OK. Having finished lunch...I am now preparing to clean the garage (an annual event thankfully)...but wait...it's cool in my office and perhaps I have enough time to blog a bit. Yeah...I've got time...let's talk and share some wargame memories.

Spend any time with me and you quickly discover that I'm hugely nostalgic. I love to look back at the past and particularly my early years of wargaming...when the hobby was filled with magic and huge potential. In today's post, I'd like to look back on one of the earliest and most formative of my wargame source materials. In the '70's wargaming was in one of its Golden Ages (some might argue it's truest golden age). One of the great magazines at that time was Wargamer's Digest. Gene McCoy, former WWII veteran tanker was the editor and publisher. He was in many ways the Gary Gygax of miniature gaming in those days. I have often found it interesting that both were in Wisconsin at that time. What was in the water up there that generated so much gaming goodness!?! Water...my bad...I meant cheese.

My first exposure to Wargamer's Digest was the result of my mother. She happened to be an artist and was often in and out of hobby shops. She picked up a copy of the magazine and a Wargamer was born. Up until that time, I was just a kid with a few boxes of Airfix miniatures, a small grass mat, a folding table and four trees (yep 4 Bachman trees) oh and some lichen.

My first copy of Wargamer's Digest introduced me to the world of wargaming that I had not known even existed. I was a thirteen year old thrilling at the knowledge that there existed this huge community of people playing with toy soldiers with the same passion that I had. I couldn't wait to grow up and play some "real" wargames. Girls...cars...naaah...I wanted to experience Gen Con...Origins...it was all about priorities. (for the record I have yet to experience Gen Con or Origins...yeah girls...priorities...I know).

Now, I'm sure you're wondering how all this wargame magazine goodness figures into ASL. In many ways, it doesn't necessarily. But I suspect that most ASL players started out as miniature players...and I further suspect that many of you are still interested in miniatures at some level.

Wargamer's Digest rarely delved into board wargaming. It would of course advertise the games and discuss wargame rules, philosophies, etc., but as a whole the magazine was primarily focused on miniatures.

Gene McCoy also had many great historical articles in his magazines as well. In fact, there was generally one or more good WW2 articles in each issue.

As my wargaming developed over the years, I was drawn more and more to board gaming. Squad Leader entered my life and its flexibility, depth and tactical scale made it a far better choice than miniatures. The rules were cleaner, the setup times were less. And you could have more than one of a given tank or half-track. As a teenager with no money...my single German Half-track wasn't cutting it on my gaming table. But in Squad Leader, COI, COD, AoV...I could have a bunch of them to crush my foes.

Therefore the transition to full SL and then to ASL was an easy one. Did I still dabble in miniatures. Yes I did and really haven't quit miniatures in total. My Airfix and ESCI collection is north of 12,000 figures. My Dragon Armor is the pride of my collection, particularly the 1/72nd Scale Tiger I's.

And yes, for a brief moment, I was seduced by Flames of War and acquired a few tanks, etc. Some of that collection is pictured below. I sold it all off in 2010. I just couldn't understand the difference between Flames of War and ASL. If I mount my miniatures on stands...wasn't that just a 3 Dimensional Counter?? And while I loved to look at it...not being able to move the miniatures as individuals just seemed pointless to me. If I'm going to use counters...let's just play ASL.

So, today, my gaming is exclusively ASL. But that doesn't mean I don't still look at my old issues of Wargamer's Digest. I peruse them often in search of scenario ideas.

You would be surprised at how much inspiration one can get from these magazines.

One of my favorite covers. This still gets my wargame blood flowing.

Not sure how many US Civil War fans are out there in the ASL community...but if you like John Hill's Squad Leader....you owe it to yourself to try Johnny Reb some day.

Wargamer's Digest helped fuel many a good game of Johnny Reb back in the day.

I purchased my final Wargamer's Digest in 1982. The next year I would be in college and the only wargame kit I took with me...you guessed...my SL, COI, COD and AoV. Many a great game was played in the dorms of Valparaiso University.

The magazine went out of print not too many years later. Issues can still be found on Ebay for prices that aren't too ridiculous.

One of the best inspirations for ASL scenario creation are the many battle problems that were in nearly every issue of Wargamer's Digest.

These were meant for miniatures, but are easily adapted to ASL.

At one time or another, I tried all of these on the table top. They are all a blast to play.

This article was always one that really intrigued me. I tried out with 1/72 scale miniatures, but it was actually made for 1/35 scale MRC Tamiya stuff.

Not sure how many of the Tamiya modelers actually wargamed with their stuff...but hey there were some rules made for those folks.

Even Wargamer's Digest went with 1/72nd scale figures in their playtest.

A Johnny Reb game in progress back in the 1990's.

Gunboats are a must...

The Battle of Belmont, Missouri played out in miniature.

The high bluffs at the back board edge are in Kentucky on the opposite side of the Mississippi River from Belmont, MO. On top is the Columbiad Gun...the "Lady Polk", which kept the gunboats at a respectable distance. You can visit those bluffs today...but much of the Belmont battlefield is today under the Mississippi River as it changed its course over the decades.

1945 Germany in miniature as Soviet forces hammer the Germans.

Stukas often need precise handling to hit the target.

My son never really took to wargaming. It was a lark for him when he was young. He did become a Marine...so something must have stuck here and there.

My one and only game with my Flames of War guys. I played with my own house rules and kept the men off of the bases. I hate bases....

Now wasn't that more fun than cleaning the garage? Sure it was. (and now I'm off to do that very chore, but you can sit and enjoy the eye candy of miniature gaming. It's pretty to look at...but doesn't quite hold a candle to ASL.

It's been a great 2016 for the Grumble Jones Blog and I'd like to thank all my readers for continuing to check out my humble pages. Thanks very much!

At the end of every work week...I look forward to my 6:00 PM Cardboard via Skype ASL game with my regular STL opponent. I can't think of a better way to end the week and start the weekend. Game night Friday's are nearly always followed up by Blog Day Saturdays. My wife of course isn't always so thrilled with my Blog Day Saturdays.

Our game this night would be ASL OA19 The Queen's Prequel. Having already played Gunter Strikes Back, we were both familiar with the boards and the objective building Hex of 14H9. We thought this game would play fast and furious and be done in a single night's play. We were far more correct than we could have anticipated. Our game would indeed play fast and furious through three turns and then abruptly end with a concession. So today, we will evaluate what led to the concession.

Joining me for today's AAR will be Professor Rollwright from the ASL Academy of Tactical and Strategic Studies in Salisbury, MD.

A few of you may remember a previous guest appearance by Prof. Rollwright a few years ago.

Since our game ended with a bit of time left last night, the good Professor was only too kind to do a post-game wrap up with me.

For OA19, I would be the German defenders with 5 squads of the Panzergrenadier Regiment 10. 1 x 5-4-8, 2x 4-6-7 and 2 x 4-4-7 with an LMG and a mortar. Not much to play with...but it would prove to be sufficient.

And of course, as you all know...I'm always happy to be fielding the boys of the Wehrmacht in any scenario. Leading this small group would be a 9-1 and an 8-0.

I would also have 2 x 20L AA guns at the airstrip, but these would not come into play during the game.

My opponent drew the British 2nd/6th Queen's Royal Regiment, 169th Brigade and would be the attacker. The men of this storied unit would consist of 2 x 4-5-8's, 6 x 4-5-7's and be led by 9-1, 8-1 and 8-0 officers. For support, they would have 1 x MMG and 2 x 51 Mortars. As with the German OOB...not a whole lot to play with.

The British actions in the Salerno campaign have always interested me, so I was excited to see how this scenario would play out.

A member of the Grumble Jones Kriegsberichter unit would be capturing the action.

The black line denotes the setup line for both sides. The Germans are north of the road and the British are south of it. On the right flank, I placed two 2-3-7 Half-Squads as I expected a British Kill Stack to setup in the O6 House and blast anyone on that side of the board. Surprisingly, my opponent concentrated in the middle of the board and was exactly where my Mortar in I5 and my 9-1 with LMG in J2 could range in on the British in the J7 woods hex.

The arrows indicate where I expected my opponent to hit me. His center concentration surprised me...but then I remembered that my regular STL opponent is a big Prep Fire guy. He was essentially setting up just to fire at me. Keep in mind that my guys were all under concealment (5 concealment counters in the German OOB). And in most cases, my boys were outside the British 5 Hex range. So my opponent would only have about a quarter of his firepower available in a given shot.

During our post game wrap, Professor Rollwright was surprised that the British mortars didn't immediately smoke the German positions.

No smoke was fired, instead my opponent went right into full Prep Fire and had nearly all of his units fire.

The mortars were actually successful in removing concealment on my I5 and J2 positions. But otherwise had now effect.

Having lost my concealment, I went ahead and traded fire in my Defensive Fire Phase.

I had a good chance of damaging the stacked up British in the J7 woods. My mortar with it's tree burst -1 would offer me the best chance to do some real damage.

And that is exactly what happened as I rolled a 2 for effect. 1 x4-5-7 was KIA'd outright, a broken 4-5-7 was reduced to the a broken 2-4-7 and the 8-1 officer was broken. BAM...my first Defensive Fire effort of the game had just been huge. 1-1/2 of my opponents 8 squads were KIA. And worse, his center position was pretty much rendered ineffective for the next turn.

I often read posts where folks decry the value of the small mortars in ASL...but I must say my experience is that they can be a game changing asset on the ASL battlefield and shouldn't be underestimated.

Having seen where my opponent was attacking, I moved my 5-4-8 out f the woods on the left flank and sent them to occupy the 14H9 building objective. I left a 4-4-7 to watch the flank...but felt pretty confident that my opponent would not be moving in that direction.

My 4-4-7 on the left would pretty much play Skat for the remainder of the battle.

It wouldn't be all sunshine and unicorns for me as the my opponent succeeded in breaking my 4-6-7 mortar boys in I5 and then I rolled a 12 for my 9-1 on an NMC. Not very normal in my opinion!!!

My 9-1 would be wounded and rout towards the medical station to get some help from the Sani. The game would be over by the time his wounds were dressed.

Going into Turn 3, my opponent's boys were rallied and making some tentative moves forward. My I5 position in the orchard was empty and I had been pushed out of the building on the right flank as well. With the clock ticking...I was convinced that my opponent had to start moving...but he didn't.

Perplexed by the British tactics, Professor Rollwright read up on some basic fire and movement concepts.

I explained to him that my regular STL opponent is not fond of risking movements in the open and is very concerned about losses.

From my perspective, I felt like my opponent was missing a great opportunity to smoke my J2 LMG and then just go forward. My boys in F3 were blocked by the orchard to get any good shots and all I had left on the right flank was a concealed 2-3-7.

The moment seemed right for a risky move...especially with only 2 turns left in the game.

But the British pretty much stayed in place and once again went full out in Prep Fire.

The British in J7 managed to DM my 4-6-7 with the LMG in J2. So things were looking good for a strong move. But...he rolled a couple of threes...which activated the German Sniper.

As we will see, this would lead to tragic consequences for the Queen's Royal Regiment.

I was feeling the heat at this point in the game. My defense was shattered...there was nothing to stop a strong British move up the center.

Professor Rollwright concurred...this was the best opportunity for a risky move up the middle.

But just as my opponent was finishing up his Prep Fire phase...he activated the German sniper for a second time. Once again it landed on his boys in P8. It was a "1"...so he rolled to see which unit was impacted....he rolled the dice one at a time...8-0 Officer..."a 3"....4-5-7..."a 3"...the 4-5-7 with mortar.."a 3"...we both just gasped...we could not remember a time where a Sniper had hit every unit in a stack. The 8-0 crumpled to the ground KIA'd, both 4-5-7's went broken and DM.

(BLOG note: a reader pointed out that the other two units would by rule receive a separate Sniper Roll. For clarification, this was done and both received a "1", which I believe is what really sent my opponent over the edge. At any rate, I don't always walk through the rules process as I do my AAR's, but this was a rare situation and as our reader pointed out, could be beneficial to other players to see how that went down.)

I was pretty shocked myself...but of course...I had to be happy with the result. My Sniper had just won the game for me.

On the other end of the Skype line...I could hear the resignation, frustration and yes...anger in my opponent's voice. He cleared his throat and said..."That's it...I concede."

Professor Rollwright did a little checking and gave me some historical examples of Snipers impacting a given battle.

I must say, the Sniper mechanic is one of those things in ASL that is completely unpredictable. You can't build it into your attack or defense planning...and yet you can't ignore it either.

So...there we were with less than a hour of game time elapsed and the scenario was over. My regular STL opponent and I picked out our scenario for next week...diced for sides and talked about work, family, and the vagaries of ASL.

Recently, there was an active thread about when to give a concession during a game on the GS Forum. That thread was running through my head as my opponent conceded this game. I couldn't blame him, as with only two turns of movement left and with very little opportunity for movement in Turn 3...it just looked like he couldn't get the win. But you never know...and that's the kicker. His forces were on the verge of a breakout when the Sniper took out the 8-0 and two squads...but those two squads had Prepped...so they weren't going to move anyway. His 9-1 and troops on the right flank were still ready to advance.

But none of that mattered at the time to my opponent. He had ELR'd and disrupted. For him, the losses he had suffered were more than he wanted to lose. And that's a key element to my opponent's ASL psychology. Of course that can be limiting in a game...where pieces will be lost and will have to be lost if victory is to be achieved.

In ASL...it's the Nick Nolte's will to win driving the Cardboard Staros to take the hill...no matter the cost. That's the math in a game about war. I have to admit that I respect my regular STL opponent's grasp of the human cost inherent in the game.

On that aspect of war, both Professor Rollwright and I were in earnest agreement.

I thanked the good Professor for joining us on this AAR and look forward to our future collaborations!

Until next week...good night!

Well, it's a quiet Friday night. My regular STL opponent has a habit of cancelling on me. Tonight, he chose to help someone with their plumbing issues. Hmmm...plumbing...ASL...plumbing...ASL...how will I ever decide!?! I know..it's so hard to choose...they are both so much fun...(ok enough sarcasm for one post...eh).

So instead of playing the world's greatest WWII tactical board game, I decided to go ahead with this month's visit to the Grumble Jones Library. It's a bit timely, as I finally received a book that I ordered on July 5th. I honestly didn't think it would ever arrive. It will be the only book I talk about tonight. Now, I know I hinted at talking about some Pacific books...but tonight's volume will be focused on my favorite campaign...the Normandy Campaign.

It is my favorite you know!

I would hazard to guess that most of you are aware of the After the Battle magazine series and the various books they have put out over the years. They are generally the first and last word on the topics which they cover. I haven't actually purchased any of their publications until this one about Villers Bocage. I have had a huge fascination for the fighting at Villers Bocage for many years. Most of us are familiar with the myth telling about Michael Wittman's charging lone Tiger I that stopped an entire British offensive. And like many of you, I really...really wanted to understand what actually went down and how Wittman and his fellow German tankers were able to accomplish their successes that day.

Daniel Taylor's Villers-Bocage Through the Lens is a relatively small book with about 88 pages or so. But those 88 pages are packed with text, maps and outstanding photographs, which were all taken by the Germans following the action. So, that fact alone seems to confirm that indeed, this initial round of fighting at Villers Bocage was a German victory in so much as they controlled the field at the end. The author does point out that some of the surviving British tankers were still in hiding as the German photographers snapped these pictures of the battle's remains.

For the ASL player, this book is an invaluable tool in walking the reader through the action and providing very detailed maps indicating individual tank and AT Gun locations. Wittmann's actions that day have often been the subject of a scenario creation attempt, but I could never come to grips with the limits of ASL to allow a single Tiger I to do the sort of carnage attributed to Wittmann's single Tiger. It just seemed that this wold be impossible to replicate

in ASL. And really, I just found the entire episode to be hard to believe. Fortunately, Taylor tackles that issue head on. And one of the key eyewitnesses to support an accurate account of the day's actions comes directly from Wittmann himself. That was one of the best aspects of this book for me. Taylor does an outstanding job of deconstructing the mythology of this battle and yet, still manages to show that Wittmann was indeed one of history's greatest

tankers. Did he actually stop the British by himself. No, he didn't, but together with the other participating units, Wittmann and his Tiger blunted a major British operation that had it been successful, might have opened the door to taking Caen much sooner.

Another terrific aspect of Taylor's book is that we get to see the Allied participants of this battle. Far too often, these brave men are forgotten

as the focus falls on Wittmann and the Tiger Tanks. History is a funny thing. We often decry that the winners get to tell the history and in a strange way, Taylor points out, that the British themselves helped to fuel the mythology of the battle. Failures of adequate planning and reconnaissance are replaced with a rampaging, unstoppable Tiger and its Panzer Ace. Coupled with the German propaganda, it's no surprise that Wittmann's legend grew and has been sustained through so many years. The Crow Indians of the American West, often measured their tribe's prominence by the strength of its enemies. Villers-Bocage is a classic example of explaining a defeat, by showing the power and prowess of your foe. In Wittmann, both the Germans and the British had their hero and arch-nemesis that rode into battle like some Black Knight. In the end, Taylor brings Wittmann back down to earth and shows that was not the cardboard caricature of Nazi or British propaganda, but instead a dedicated, military man, who would fall in battle on August 8th, 1944 like so many of his foes who similarly fell at Villers-Bocage.

Lastly, Taylor's book brings into focus men like John Cloudsley-Thompson who faced Wittmann at Villers-Bocage, survived the

encounter and went on to lives of post-war fame and adventure, which would forever be accented by the day they faced Germany's greatest tank ace at Villers-Bocage.

In closing, I highly recommend this book for the ASL player interested in the key battles associated with the Normandy Campaign and in particular, the fighting to secure Caen. Taylor's book is spot on in bringing the battle to life and will certainly be invaluable in helping you create a scenario to be replayed on the cardboard fields of Advanced Squad Leader.

Thanks for visiting us this month. We will check out some new books in September!

In remembrance of the 15 men of 1st and 2nd Kompanie, schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101 who fell at Villers-Bocage.

In remembrance of the men of Allied Units, who fell at Villers-Bocage:

4th County of London Yeomanry (12 men)

8th Hussars (7 men)

1st Royal Tank Regiment (10 men)

11th Hussars (1 man)

5th Royal Horse Artillery (4 men)

1/7th Queen's Regiment (13 men)

5th Royal Tank Regiment (4 men)

1/5th Queen's Regiment (8 men)

1st Rifle Brigade (16 men)

65th Anti-Tank Regiment (2 men)

Please remember to open link in a new window to maximize the view.

The PDF for this scenario can be downloaded from the The ASL Scenario Archive.

(simply search on Grumble Jones or At the Don's Edge).

And always remember, these scenarios are presented for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of my blog.

Design note - this scenario is based on a hypothetical occurrence during the August 1942 advance of the Croatian 369th Regiment towards the Don River...Stalingrad...and history.

Inspired by my own Halloween experiences in Prague in 1985, this year's Halloween Scenario will be set in Prague as the Germans attempt to escape the city in early May, 1945. But something is hunting them in the darkened streets...casting a giant shadow...and seeking revenge...

Now...it's been a hard year of work...work and more work. So when I saw that the Kansas City ASL Group was having a game day in August..well I decided that I had to get myself up there. I took my wife and daughter, spent two nights ($350+ on hotel room, food, etc.). So on Saturday, while my wife and daughter shopped at Legends (http://www.legendsshopping.com/), I drove over to the Hollis Renewal Center for a day of ASL.

The Hollis Renewal Center is tucked away in a forested cove, where the ASL is thick and the distractions few. A perfect place to get one's priorities straight!

Upon arrival, I found the place hopping with ASL players, already primed and ready to wage cardboard war!

Upon arrival, I had the great fortune to be matched up against Dan Best. Dan was the first person I played against during my first Texas Tournament in 2013. Dan is a tremendous ASL player and just terrific fun to play against. We not only competed on the cardboard battlefields of ASL...but I think we had dueling Russian Accents throughout our game...which might have been confusing for Dan as I was supposed to be the GERMANS...but I just love doing a Russian accent...

Hey...I gave it my best shot...

So suffice to say, I was thrilled to be playing once more against Dan. Dan has been working on some new scenarios and asked if I would mind helping to play test. Sounded good to me, so we decided on a Scenario entitled " YEVPATORIYA MOP UP", which takes place in the Crimea in 1942. Dan mentioned that Youtube has a German newsreel of the actual fighting for the town of Yevpatoriya. Here is the link to a fairly good little video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82GRzswgSbo

Dan and decided to roll for sides and I ended up as the attacking Germans. I couldn't have been happier. Me and my Wehrmacht boys...together again!! Dan drew the Russians and went about setting up his defense.

The German force consisted of a 10-2, 9-2, 9-1, 8-1, 6 x 8-3-8 with 4 x DC's and 2 x Flamethrowers, a handful of 4-6-7's, with 2 x 222 Armored Cars against a Russian force of 4-5-8's, 4-4-7's, and some tough 6-2-8's led by two Commissars and some regular Red Army officers.

The Germans would win it after 7.5 Turns, they had taken two building locations on Board 10 and Board 8. Sounds easy right? Well the Russians would be able to fortify 5 hexes and would have two HIP units. The battle which would follow would go to the very bitter end and would be decided in the final Close Combat phase. It would prove to be a very bloody and desperate fight from start to finish. In short...it was an AWESOME Game of ASL!

Now, some may question (though perhaps not many) driving 9 hours round trip and spending $400 to play one scenario of ASL. Of course those who might question that probably don't play ASL!!!

Some folks go the beach...some to the mountains...some to the lakes..me I went for some ASL...and was the better for it!

Just a quick note about the pictures. Normally, I use my Canon camera for my blog images...but when traveling, I rely on my I-Phone 4S camera. It's just not the same. So my apologies in advance for the poorer picture quality for this AAR.

My Germans entered from off board on Turn 1. In the interest of full disclosure, I set up my 8-3-8's on the wrong side. They should have been on the left side of this setup. Dan forgave me the error and we were off and running! My plan was go directly for the first building with my two MMG's on either flank to cut-off potential reinforcements to this building. My 8-3-8's with the DC's and Flamethrowers were going straight at the Russian building in my front.

My Turn 1 movements had revealed the two Russian MMG's, one on the far left and one in the center stone wall island thingy. This was good as, I knew that the Russians in the main building were not hiding any big firepower.

Now on Turn 2, I received two 222 Armored Cars as reinforcements. They rolled into the battle ready to do some VBM sleezzzzzyyyy stuff!

"Come to the Crimea they said...it'll be fun they said..."

My 222 Armored car that went left was successful in freezing the Russian MMG team over there, but would be immobilized in the succeeding Melees. The 222 that went up the middle would malf it's main armament and then break it for good and be recalled. Easy come....easy go...

Yeah...the gun was still good and would eventually take out the Russians in Melee.

But...it's Crimean Tour was over.

My flame-throwers moved up and helped to push back the first Russian 4-5-8 in the fortified building. Did I mention the building was fortified...!?!

It is good to have the Flammenwerfer...say it with me...slowly..Flammmeennweerrfer...

As the battle progressed...it became clear that the Russians had a Commissar in the fortified building. And the dude was Johnny on the Spot with Rallies. The Russians would break, rally and then hit me hard. Fanatic 4-5-8's and 6-2-8's with a Commissar in a freakin' fortified building...yeah...things were not looking good for my Germans. But my 10-2 and his 6 x 8-3-8's with DC were about to crash this Socialist Party...HARD!!!

Commissar Pavlovovich...master of the fortified building and enemy #1!

8-3-8's waiting to join the party...

vodka...ve bring die Schnapps!!

On the left, my boys in the 222 did indeed take out the Russians in Melee even as a 4-6-8 rushed in to support. On the left, had fared less well. A Russian mortar had nuked my recon 2-4-7 and it had a clear shot down the road on the right. So a little bit of caution was required as my 9-2 moved an MMG into position to duel with the Russian MMG in the center stone wall thingy.

Little did I know that the MMG squad was unfamiliar with the MG-34...as they would break it three times in this game...3 times...seriously...3 times....a veritable festival of boxcars!!!

They just weren't taking things seriously...focus guys...quit burning out the barrels!!

Twice during our game, Dan channeled his inner Carnac to correctly guess the next roll..."Snakes" the first time and got it and then after his mortar went on an 8 in a row ROF tear, he correctly guessed the next roll would be "Boxcars!!!" and it was...

(Dan will be my source for lotto numbers in the future!)

As Turn 4 came to an end, my Germans had finally taken control of the fortified building. Hard fighting and lots of close combat had eliminated the last of the Russians. Even the Commissar had been shot down in the street and he ran for the row houses.

My 10-2 was firmly in command of the situation!!

One building down...but the second building was quite a ways away. And time was running out for my Germans. The Russians would not go quietly into that long goodnight...hard fighting awaited!!!

With time running out, my Germans had to start preparing to make up lost time and make a beeline to the second building objective...no time to sit on our laurels!

As my boys prepared to move forward, little did they know that the Russian 4-5-8 in BB5 was sitting in yet another fortified location and would seriously damage my calm...

So Boris...always with the fortified buildings....

As Boris and his fortified building made their full presence known...the Russian Sniper showed up and ended my 4-6-8's romp on the far left.

And the next thing I know....Dan rolls another Snakes and Boris' squad creates a Hero of the Soviet Union...yep...Dan was rollin' dice like a BOSS!!

Kinda takin' the whole Hero Creation thing to a new level...

So there I was Prep-Firing away with 18 factors, 20 factors, 30 factors...and nothing...nothing...oh and I create a Hero...aieieeieieieieieiiiieeeeeee....

Fortunately for me, my Germans were pretty badass themselves...so they were able to deal with Boris and the Hero and make a strong move to the right and to the left. The breakout had begun!!

Break time...the weather was pretty nice...so we took a nice break out on the front porch, soaked in some sunshine...talked ASL with some other club members and got ready for the titanic conclusion to our scenario!

Ahhh...breathe in the calm...the serenity....

Now back to wanton card board death and destruction!!!

With time slipping from my grasp, I sent my boys rushing ahead. The Russians were also moving to reinforce the second victory location.

Weaving my way through Russian fire resulted in some broken squads, but our boys were getting through...it looked like we had a chance...then my 10-2 rolled snakes and then boxcars to go Berserk and take his whole stack with him....UGH!!!

DUDE...you are leading them away from the Victory Location...turn around...go back!!!

"New orders men...Operation Berserker..."

Oh...so close...so close...

So as my 10-2 and 8-3-8's became infected with the Rage Virus and went after a nearby 4-5-8, the rest of my Landsers hoofed it to the second building objective and gave it their best shot to defeat the remaining Russians.

But it wouldn't prove to be enough. My Germans stormed into the final building...but couldn't eliminate the remaining Russians in Close Combat and then a broken 4-5-8 had routed into a corner on the second floor. Time ran out...the buzzer sounded...and it was game over.

A well deserved victory for Dan and his hard-pressed Russians.

But of course this is ASL Comrade...and just spending a Saturday playing ASL made us all winners!!!

A huge thank you to Dan and the rest of the Kansas City ASL Group for allowing me to share in their game day. I had a blast and hope to do it again one day!!!

One final note, be sure to follow the Kansas City ASL Group for the release of this fantastic Scenario in their next Publication!

A squadron of French R35 Tanks during the short-lived invasion of the Saar.

Credit to the article link below for the pictures and inspiration for this scenario.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/did-you-know-the-french-army-invaded-germany-in-1939.html

Please remember to open link in a new window to maximize the view.

The PDF for this scenario can be downloaded from the The ASL Scenario Archive.

(simply search on Grumble Jones or A Saar Soiree).

And always remember, these scenarios are presented for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of my blog.

Design note - this scenario is based on a hypothetical occurrence during the September advance of French Forces into the Saar Region of Germany following the German invasion of Poland. Historically, the French sent in a sizable force, but were unable to penetrate the German bunkers lining the Siegfried Line. The French had not brought their large caliber artillery within range of the Siegfried Line. For their part, the Germans had a force consisting primarily of reservists with next to nothing available in armor support. It would be the German artillery that would eventually compel the French to retreat back to France and their own Maginot Line.

As the French retreated, the Germans were only to happy to watch them leave and cautiously reoccupy their former territory. It seemed that in September 1939, neither the French or the Germans were ready for all out war.

But what if the Germans had decided to engage the retreating French forces?? This scenario attempts to show exactly that situation as an overeager German officer disobeys orders to strike out at the French and gain fame, glory, and an Iron Cross for his efforts.

But what-if the Germans have grabbed a tiger by the tail...

French General Gamelin, whose bold attack into the Saar could have materially changed the Second World War.

Ahhh...what might have been...

The last days of summer are slowing slipping by...football is in the air again and the promise of a cool, golden-hued Autumn await, as we head once more into the stacks of the Grumble Jones Library.

For today's visit, I intend to focus on just one book, Mark Bando's excellent Breakout at Normandy: The 2nd Armored Division in the Land of the Dead. There are only a handful of books that I would seek to save in the even of a fire...or lately...here in Oklahoma an earthquake. This volume is one of those. I chanced upon during a visit to a Borders Bookstore in St. Louis, MO. I was killing time before an NAPM-St. Louis dinner meeting...when lo and behold I found Bando's book. It had me at hello! What a book.

Bando's books recounts the events of a single week in the Normandy campaign, which led up to a climatic night of 29-30 July 1944. On that night, elements of the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Gotz von Berlichen" and the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" would attempt to crash the thin lines of the 2nd US Armored Division "Hell of Wheels" and the supporting 41st US Armored Infantry Regiment.

The shock and fury of a night battle between the elite soldiers of two proud armies would produce a battle often referred to as Death Night. And the rising sun would truly shine on a Land of the Dead as the extent of the damage done to the retreating Germans was fully revealed.

In his forward, Bando talks about stress and fear of fighting at night, which was exponentially intensified the the abundance of armored vehicles on both sides.

The retreating Germans were headed like a tidal wave straight at Combat Command B (CCB) of the US 2nd Armored Division. A unit known for it's excellent teamwork and aggressiveness that many attributed to it's time under the tutelage of General Patton.

On that terrible night, CCB would represent the last hurdle to freedom for German troops desperate to escape from the Allied encirclement.

For the ASL player, the descriptions of the various actions leading up to and during the Death Night are perfect for scenario ideas. Perhaps the only challenge is the aspect of night itself. Modeling it properly in ASL may be difficult, but certainly achievable. I have not attempted it yet myself, but for my December scenario, I may work to create one from this book. Hedgerows, night rules, lots of tanks and half-tracks...it's just too much ASL goodness to pass up.

Bando's book also spends a fair amount of time on the mysterious death of Lt. Col. Christian Tychsen, who was acting commander of the Das Reich. Bando's research attempts to unravel the mystery and makes for some very interesting reading.

What's even a bit more intriguing is that despite his research, interviews and on-site investigations, Bando was unable to conclusively determine the exact circumstances of Tychsen's death. And there's a bit of melancholy to that truth...a highly esteemed officer of an elite German Unit is killed and forgotten as any other soldier caught up in that maelstrom of violence and death. Bando, even mentions that some veterans of the 2nd Armored Division, whom he interviewed could not understand why he was so interested in solving the mystery of just another dead German. For me personally, such sentiment says a bit about the truth of war's impersonal cruelty.

Bando of course spends a good deal of time on the American players in that battle with particular attention paid to the Death Night exploits of Sgt. Hulon B. Whittington of the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment. Sgt. Whittington, a squad leader would win the Medal of Honor for his actions on the night of July 29th, 1944. In short, Sgt. Whittington's inspired leadership would result in the blocking

of a column of nearly 100 German vehicles and tanks, which would ultimately be decimated throughout that night and the following morning.

Certainly, from an ASL perspective, the role a single man can have in an engagement is well known. Not sure if Whittington would be better represented by a Hero counter of possibly a 9-2. I do think the -1 modifier which Heroes can impart to units in their hex clearly has some historical backing.

Hulon Whittington known as "Big Witt", would be a career soldier and retire as a Major. Sadly, Whittington would take his own life. Bando records the sad truth that Whittington would not be the only US Veteran of Death Night to take their own life.

A final aspect of this book that I also really enjoyed was learning a bit more about the US 41st Armored Infantry Regiment. At the time of Death Night, these men were still wearing camouflage uniforms. They easily distinguished in photographs from that period in Normandy. As the war in Europe continued, they would lose the camouflage because it was too often confused with Waffen SS uniforms to other friendly units.

So in conclusion, I cannot recommend this book enough for both the ASL player and the historian. This book ably satisfies the needs of both. It also tells a very interesting and tragic human side of a night that would bring honor to the US 2nd Armored Division.

Thanks for spending a Friday evening talking about books.

We'll see you again in October!

A long-time goal was realized this morning...100,000 Page Views. Naturally, this is just a number and getting too hung up on reaching certain numbers seems to be a peculiar aspect of our shared internet experience, where self-value is measured by the number of likes a post receives on this or that social media platform. So while I certainly aspired to this goal of hitting 100,000 page views...it is certainly not a milestone that will make it into my future obituary...at least I hope that won't be all that I would ever remembered for...

All that said and understood...it is still an accomplishment and something that I want to spend at least one blog post celebrating. So bear with me!

This blog began in 2011 with zero expectations. I had no idea what I was doing or what I ever thought I would accomplish with my blog. The name for those, who may not know is based on the Confederate General William E. "Grumble" Jones.

Grumble Jones hails from my home of Southwest Virginia and served with distinction until his death in 1864 at the Battle of Piedmont, VA. His nickname was well earned and the irascible general was fluent in the profanity of his age and was not afraid to use it...to the consternation of his superiors like Jeb Stuart.

For me, he is the perfect embodiment of the "Grumbler" as the French referred to the Grognards of Napleon's army. And of course Grognard is a term used often to describe the veteran ASL player. So the name "Grumble Jones" was decided upon.

Now, those of you familiar with my early posts will certainly note that they were flat and ultimately a bit uninteresting. Things got better in 2012 and 2013...but it was not until 2014 that I finally found my voice and my AAR style.

The primary event in 2014 that would help propel my Blog to its current state, was the Pegasus Bridge CG that I played against Christoper Brackney, aka "Big Kansas". It was during that months long CG that I realized the power of creating a narrative story to go along with the AAR. It was a way to convey to readers, the pure excitement that I was experiencing in playing that fantastic game. It remains one of the greatest ASL moments in my life. If you ever wonder about playing a CG...wonder no more. Just do it. You will not regret it.

As my blog progressed following the Pegasus Bridge CG, I found myself spending greater and greater time to create AAR's Grumble Jones Library segments and of course my "basement" quality Scenarios.

A key aspect of my AAR's that developed over time, was the photography. This may not seem like a big deal...but it really is.

Everyone has seen the boards and counters before...so it's generally not that compelling for a reader to spend much time looking at yet another picture of board 10. So focusing the pictures and bringing the action up close became a staple of my picture taking and editing. And of course there is still massive room for improvement. Finding a way for an ASL game to pop off the screen with the same intensity as a miniatures game has always been my primary goal. I'm not sure that I will ever get there...but I will never stop trying.

OK, now for some thank you's. #1 Thank you to my readers...the 100,000 is really your accomplishment more than mine own. You have graciously given your valuable time to follow my blog. I very much appreciate it.

And now a moment of thanks to the ASL Players who have spent their time playing Cardboard via SKYPE with me these past many years and whose gaming has formed the basis for so many AAR Blog Posts. Thank you to Scott Waites aka "My Regular STL Opponent, Christopher Brackney aka "Big Kansas", Scott Holst, Dan Best, Robert Zinselmeyer, Steve Landreth, Rick Salisbury, Alex Key, Jim Burris, Roy Connelly, and Richard Burton. Thanks for the excellent games and for allowing me to blog about them.

And now lastly, to cap off the celebration of hitting 100,000 Page Views, I have asked Tim Brieaddy of Redheaded TShirts to create a custom morale patch to give away. If you have not visited Tim's outstanding website to see his selection of ASL themed products...I highly recommend that you do. Tim has quality products and fantastic customer service. http://redheadedtshirts.com/asl/

Tim was kind enough to create a custom Grumble Jones ASL Blog Morale Patch. I currently have five of these to give away to the first five blog readers who PM me with their addresses at ozarkoutrider@gmail.com. I wish I had more to offer, but like everyone else, I have to manage my finances or face my wife's wrath.

So if you would like one, just PM as quick as you can. The fastest five will be the lucky winners.

And I do want to thank Tim once again for a custom patch he included with my order. I absolutely love it. Thanks again!

OK...that's enough patting myself on the back for one day. Thanks again everyone for your readership and support of my humble blog. I very much appreciate it.

STALINGRAD...there is perhaps no more iconic battle for ASL Players. It is the Alpha and the Omega of our shared wargaming experience. It is the place where we first learn the ropes of ASL and it is the place that permeates our dreams about the game. It is the training ground and the crucible through which all ASL players pass. And it's first and most famous test is the GUARDS COUNTERATTACK.

My Friday game was called due to technical problems. My regular STL Opponent has now missed three straight game nights because of technical difficulties. His equipment is severely outdated (trust me 10 years+ too old) and the result is frequent SKYPE drops and most recently...microphone and internet connection issues. My Regular STL opponent will eventually have to upgrade and once he does, our Friday games should resume.

Fortunately for me, Dan Best had scheduled a Saturday game night with to try Cardboard via SKYPE for the first time. I recommended playing the Guards Counterattack as a good primer for getting into the groove of Cardboard via SKYPE. I think Dan was in the groove by the second Rally Phase. I won't get into a Cardboard via SKYPE lecture series with this post and most of you are very familiar with that method of playing ASL long distance.

Dan and I only ran into one problem. He was using the Hardboard Map 1 and I had setup on the Starter Kit Map 1. There are major differences in some of the building depictions. So you will note that around Turn 2, I switched out to my Hardboard Map 1 to ensure that both sides were on the same "Page" if you will. So when you see the pictures change suddenly..you will know why.

For the night's cardboard carnage, Dan drew the Germans and I the Russians. The task of seizing two buildings from the Germans would fall to my 12 x 6-2-8's. Did I mention that I would have 12 x 6-2-8's !!! It doesn't get any better than that!! And my 10-2 would be leading these fine fellows into the maelstrom of combat!

All in all I liked my chances for success in this scenario. The Russians really have an edge if they can just avoid being mowed down in the open by the German machine guns.

But I think Dan thought his chances for holding off the Russians were pretty good.

As most players know, this scenario pretty much dictates the placement of your troops. This is really helpful when you are new to the game and certainly allows for a fast setup.

I quickly rolled the Turn 1 wind change and then went right to work. My objectives for the game were the H building and the J building. I will admit, I was a bit reckless in throwing my boys across the street. Some of my boys did break...but I managed to get into the building!

Over on the right...my 4-4-7's didn't fare as well. I had placed my Commissar right in the mix rather than holding him back. I was planning a human wave assault for Turn 2. But I did not get the chance.

On the left, things went pretty well for my Russians. Enough of my boys made it into the building to give me a solid chance of taking it.

The first of many snake eyes that Dan would roll during the night.

(You can also see that Dan mastered the camera setup perfectly!)

As the Russian phase of Turn 1 neared it's end, things were really positive for putting the hurt on the H Building. But oh...how things would change.

As my phase of Turn 1 ended, I had managed to win the first CC in Building H and was moving to conrol the staircase in F6. I had also succeeded in DM'ing some Germans in the J Building,

Dan's Germans had been rocked a bit...but they quickly regrouped to put some hurt on me.

Our Snipers would both be very active. With SAN's of 6 it would be no surprise. In this picture, the Russian Sniper succeeded in reducing the German Sniper by 1.

Borya would make his presence felt a few times during the game.

Turn 2, my boys on the right decided to go for it and head over to the H Building. The Germans would lay down a fire lane, but my boys would make it across.

The German MG's would prove to be decisive in this game.

ASL...ever the unpredictable game...saw one of my 4-4-7's go berserk and run into the Germans in L6 and meet their doom. But this removed the fire land and freed up other units to rush the J Building.

Despite losing my berserk squad, I was relatively pleased that my boys were in the J Building. The Germans inside were nearly all broken except the 8-0 officer and he would be unsuccessful in rallying them until the Russians finally KIA'd them all.

Honestly, I was very surprised that I had been successful in getting so many boys into the J Building. I had been planning to seize the H Building first.

Going into Turn 3, my Russians had managed to encircle the Germans in both buildings H and J. But clearing the buildings would prove to be very difficult indeed.

The Germans in the H Building would refuse to give up and managed to hold out for the remainder of the game.

And silly things like the German sniper would aid their cause by breaking a key 6-2-8 that had been planning to go upstairs and take care of business.

Nice shooting Uwe.

As the battle progressed it would become clear that the Germans in I7 were enemy #1. These men lead by the German 9-2 would chew my boys up throughout the game and dash my hopes for victory.

Of course other strange moments would occur as our battle raged. A broken 2-3-7 would suddenly roll snakes and battle harden to a 2-4-8. It's the little things that make me happy!!

Way to rally boys!!!

As my Russians got bogged down in securing the H and J Buildings...my opponent sensed a moment to strike and take some territory away from me on the right. His HMG group dashed for the M Building... but were cut down in the street. The HMG would remain in the street for the remainder of the scenario, with another German squad being cut down later in the game while trying to recover it.

As Turn 3 began to wrap up, the Russians had taken the J Building and seemed poised to take the H Building. But...the Germans had struck hard on my right side and were taking control of Building M. I planned to send boys from the H Building to retake it...but I would not get the opportunity.

It was at the end of Turn 3 that things turn a dire turn for the worst. The German 10-2 would battle harden and go Heroic. The I7 boys were going to make sure the Germans won this battle!

As the Germans seemed to regain their strength, my Russians were beginning to thin out on the right and left. Dan's well positioned "Death Stars" were exacting a heavy toll on my boys. And Building H was not looking like it would go down any time soon.

The Snipers activated one after the other and wrecked havoc on both the Germans and the Russians in Building H.

Then fate struck again, the Germans in I7 successfully created a Hero...because a Heroic 10-2 just wasn't enough!!!

This Hero stuff was starting to get to me!!

As the battle reached its zenith, I sent three 6-2-8's up the stairs in F6. The German 8-1 Kill stack in L6 opened up on them and DM'd all three. It would prove to the be fatal hit on my Russians.

I couldn't tell from the map that the stairwell was that open to enemy fire...oh well...live and learn...

So there I was, watching in silence as the Germans slowly reclaimed Building H and began completing turning the right flank. My reckless, early moves were now beginning to haunt me. Troops that had perished in those early turns, were not available to check the German advances.

With the conclusion of the game no longer in doubt, my boys continued to trade fire with the Germans...but with no appreciable effect.

Dan and I would finish the Russian Phase of Turn 4 and call it a game. The Germans had managed to hold on to Building H and seize two of the previously held Russian buildings on the right flank. It was a clear German victory.

So Dan had completed his first scenario by Cardboard via SKYPE. And he had pulled out a win on the old school scenario!

Now...following our game...I became curious about the Bear in the background. A little research revealed the following:

My thanks to Dan for a great game and I am already looking forward to our next scenario!!!

Prague, October 30th, 1985...forty years after the events of the Czech Hell and events related to "DAS GOLEM". Recently declassified POW Interrogation forms reveal that very strange events occurred on the night of May 5th, 1945.

The traditional history of the Prague Uprising has always been fairly straightforward. The Czech Resistance fighters seized the German Radio Station and called for a general uprising. Over the next several days, the Czechs would fight hard to reclaim their city from the German occupiers. But the Germans, reinforced with Waffen SS elements from the surrounding area would move quickly to put down the uprising, just as American and Soviet forces converged on Bohemia-Moravia.

German veterans of that first night of the uprising always spoke of the darker terror and horrors of that night in the old city center...when an unseen force and a terrible monster sought to slay all the Germans in the city of Prague. Soviet Intelligence sources maintained a strict silence regarding their subsequent interrogation of German POW's. But hidden among the US Military Archives was one POW interrogation that had escaped destruction. The interrogation file for Fallschirmjaeger Hauptman Kurt Schenk would reveal that something both terrible and otherworldly occurred that fateful night of May 5th. And it would come to light that the most ancient legends and myths associated with the famous, Rabbi Loew and the mysterious Golem Guardian of the Jewish Ghetto would prove to be more true than anyone would ever have imagined. And the truth of that terrible night in Prague would be hidden from sight until now...

Hauptman Kurt Schenk...only known witness on record to reveal the truth about May 5th, 1945 and Das Golem. This Fallshirmjaeger veteran's accounts were logged by US 7th Army Intelligence G2 Section Leaders in early May 1945. Schenk had already been noted as a high value Wehrmacht Officer capture. In the waning days of WW2, he would mysteriously vanish from a Soviet POW compound near Prague and turn up again in Camp Gruber, Oklahoma with a classified OSS file.

Just what did Kurt Schenk tell US Army Intelligence about the night of May 5th, 1945???

Here now is the official G2 POW Interrogation form for Hauptman Kurt Schenk. Read at your own risk...

The "Das Golem" Scenario will be available October 2016.

Will you have the courage to face the Golem??

Having enjoyed our first game of ASL by Cardboard via SKYPE, Dan Best and I decided to have another SKYPE session, which would go for an additional two evenings. We selected scenario MM16 Eve of Destruction, which is currently available in Kansas City ASL's "The Very Best of March Madness (Vol. 1). This would be my first opportunity to play a scenario out of this pack. The Scenario Designer for this one is Mike Reed. Mike's genius for scenario design would really show through as I transformed three desert boards into the Russian steppes near Kursk. Be forewarned this scenario has a lot of overlays. And you are probably like me...you avoid those kinds of scenarios. Well...don't be so much like me! Give overlay a scenarios another look. Because let me tell you...this scenario was FUN!!! This scenario pack is still available and I highly recommend grabbing a copy before they are all gone and then selling on Ebay for like $800.00 or some other ridiculous amount...you know what I'm talking about...you know the guys who got the $80.00 AOO and are selling them for $240.00...not that I'm bitter about that or anything...ok..maybe a teeny tiny bit.

Now back to the AAR. Dan drew the Germans and would be the powerful 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte" with two Tigers, bucket loads of MKIV's and Half-Tracks and plenty of 6-5-8's and 8-3-8-'s to add some spice to an impressive OOB. My Russian OOB was not quite as robust. I would have 8 x 4-5-8's defending a couple of Russian Isbas smack in the middle of wheatfields in the wide open steppes. Some ravines, hillocks, and an nice anti-tank ditch would contribute some natural obstacles to impede the advance of the boys in the pea dot camo suits.

This game is somewhat deceptive at first glance. It's only 5 turns...but those turns...oh how looooong those turns were. I can remember on Monday night...just wanting to lay down after Dan's turn ended. I was exhausted...I mean really exhausted. Having played Flying Turrets, I can say that this scenario is the little brother to that hulk of a scenario. With 45 armored vehicles on the map...it would be a very engaging game to say the least. And as if that was not enough...the Germans get three Stukas with Hans-Ulrich Rudel in one of them. Good grief...I should have conceded before the first roll!!!! Of course I'm glad I didn't as I had blast. That's not to say that I didn't get my ass handed to me...cause I did...

Now we have all played those games where our dice were hot or cold. We all know the joy of endless ROF and critical hits and the sorrow of 11's and 12's. Well during the last turn of this scenario...Turn 4 as I recall...my opponents first roll would be a snake eyes, which would rally a DM'd 8-3-8 and create a Hero. And for the next hour and 1/2 my opponents hot dice would be balanced by my stone cold...rocks for dice. It was so bad at one point...that I uttered...one profanity...it slipped out...honestly...I tried to keep it in...but it escaped. It was so bad at one point, that Dan asked me over the SKYPE line...."Are you ok?"

No dude...I got diced...gimme a minute...

I generally try not to change dice during a game...but on that one turn I went through 4 different pairs...and it didn't help...

"Diced you say...doesn't sound that bad dude...like maybe man up...

just say'n..."

Yes, Dieter...hang on...there's an AAR out there...it's coming next!!!

As I mentioned earlier in the post, this game uses a lot of overlays. And yes I set one of them up wrong..so if you notice the board looks different down the road here...that will be why. The Stars indicated the victory point locations that the Germans needed to take without suffering 90 CVP in the process.

This was all the Russians had a the start along with 2 x 76L ARTY's in the backfield. The name of the game was stay quiet and stay concealed for as long as possible.

Dan set up a classic Panzer Keil to sweep up over the hillock and head to the NE of the village.

Dan would also have nearly all of the crews CE.

The first turn movement set the stage for Dan's later attacks and particularly for his interdiction of my armor assets that would enter on Turn 2.

As the first half-tracks rumbled into view, one of my 76L Artys in the rear opened up.

The AT ditch definitely helped slow down the Germans, but after turn 2, it would largely be irrelevant to the battle.

The half-track mounted mortar went on a smoke ROF tear to begin Turn 2. My 76L Arty would be effectively blinded for the next two complete turns. The SS Panzergrenadiers moved up to the AT ditch where they would end up in Advance Phase.

The AT ditch would be a collection point for broken squads in the later game turns.

As the German armor headed to the NE, my HIP 45LL AT Gun barked out a shot...a miss...then an intensive fire shot...and just like that MALF'd and would never fire again for the remainder of the game. In a blink of an eye, my only AT asset in the village was gone. All that was left was an ATR.

With my 45LL AT Gun MALF'd the German tanks came in like sharks smelling blood in the water. My mortar dropped some rounds on an CE MKIV and managed to stun it.

Nice shooting Dmitri!!

As Turn 2 ended for the Germans, they had reinforced the SS Panzergrenadiers with a platoon of MKIV's. Dan kept his half-tracks back and sent them to the rear of the SE hillock to keep them from adding unnecessarily to the German CVP cap.

The grenadiers were my biggest concern.

My reinforcements stream onto the battlefield. The worst mistake I would make would be putting my 3 x Churchill IV's right in the line of sight for 2 x Tiger I's. They would make me pay dearly for that error. My T-70's were supposed to sacrifice themselves as the T-34's with 6-2-8 rider dashed into the village. Unfortunately by SSR, the Russians only had half their movement points.

(Balance note: I would change that to allow the Russians full movement as they enter on Turn 2.)

My Russians were pretty awesome as they entered the game...but all glory is fleeting...especially when Tigers are involved.

Everything moved forward, and over the din of my rumbling tanks could be hurt the sharp cracking of German 88L and 75L Guns...followed by the dull eruptions of steel and flesh...as my tanks were ripped asunder one after the other.

Dan got ROF with one of the Tigers and in three shots eliminated all three of my Churchill IV's...ouch....

Dan's panzers knocked out a great number of tanks right off the bat.

When a Tiger gets ROF...look out...

Turn 3 would see the SS Grenadiers make a strong push right up into my Russian grill. Some of the Grenadiers would be eliminated, but by and large they got into position.

Dan's 9-2 would move up with 2 x 6-5-8's and 2 x MMG's. The Death Star had arrived.

The MKIV's that had moved back to the left flank would prove to be a real thorn in my side. I would lose several tanks to them.

My good/bad luck would continue as a snake-eyes resulted in a Berserk 9-1 and 4-5-8. They would charge the MKIV in the next turn and be cut down to a man.

The Germans continued to devastate my tanks in Turn 3.

As the German phase of Turn 3 concluded...I knew the village was in trouble.

In the Russian phase of Turn 3, my surviving T-70's rushed blindly ahead trying to draw as much German fire as possible.

As my T-34's moved towards the village...the tell-tale shriek of Stukas filled the air. Hans Ulrich-Rudel led the way and quickly blazed up a T-34.

As if my day wasn't bad enough already...a flight of tank-busting Stukas swoops down on me...

But kudos to the scenario designer for including Rudel. It added some extra spice to an already great game.

The Stukas eliminated two of my tanks, as Dan's Panzers eliminated several more.

But despite the Stukas and Panzers, my relief column arrived in the village in the nick of time.

All was not necessarily lost for my Russians.

Then we started Turn 4 and Dan's first Rally DR is snakes...and an SS 8-3-8 rallies and create a hero. Oh good grief...it would only go downhill from there!!!

The SS hero would only add to my woes...

German Prep Fire did the trick and broke the last of my guys standing in the way.

In his movement phase Dan sent his armor right into me.

Dan's Grenadiers began rushing my defenses. A DC would blow up my defenders in the Q6 foxhole.

Turn 4 would prove to be the decisive turn as Dan's Germans systematically destroyed my Germans.

As Turn 4 came to an end, the Germans had eliminated all of the Russian Tanks and very nearly all of my remaining infantry. I still had a couple 4-5-8's concealed and ready to jump into the buildings and force a Turn 5....but quickly rethought that idea and gave Dan my concession. His attack had completely over-matched my Russians.

A last look at really fun and exciting game. If you are looking for a scenario to give you the flavor of Kursk, I would have to say that this scenario really brings it to life.

My thanks to Dan for another great game! Already looking forward to our next SKYPE sesson on Saturday.

Great game and great win Dan!

Our Friday Night Game -- the conclusion of FF-8 "Send in the Sand Rabbits"

June visit to the Grumble Jones Library

The Great Dice Roll Log

Our Friday game, A-37 Dreil Team - Turns 1-2

Our Friday Game - Turns 3-5 of A-37 Dreil Team

Grumble Jones July Scenario - GJ034 "Mule Skinner"

July Visit to the Grumble Jones Library

Our Friday Game...the Conclusion of A-37 Dreil Team

Some Sources of ASL Inspiration

Our Friday Game - ASL OA19 The Queen's Prequel

August visit to the Grumble Jones Library

Grumble Jones August Scenario GJ035 "At the Don's Edge"

Teaser Trailer for this year's Annual Halloween Scenario - DAS GOLEM

August 27th Kansas City ASL Group Game Day!

Grumble Jones September Scenario GJ036 "A Saar Soiree"

September Visit to the Grumble Jones Library

100,000 Page Views

Our Saturday Game - THE GUARDS COUNTERATTACK!!!!

Background information for the annual Grumble Jones Scenario "Das Golem"

Our Friday...Sunday...Monday game...MM16 Eve of Destruction